The writing life update

Things are interesting in my writing at the moment. I’m deep into the first draft of my third novel. I’m at that stage where I’m both loving and hating it. I love the fact that I’m writing a novel again, as I do adore getting my teeth into a great big story with no real word count restrictions. I’m hating it because I want it to be really good and have regular waves of writerly anxiety. Is this story really any good? Are my characters cliches? Am I just a hack that should give it all up and become a tax accountant? You know, the usual stuff. But I’m close to 60,000 words into the thing, so I’ll finish it up now out of self-spite if nothing else. The truth is, I’m actually quite pleased with the thing so far – I reckon it’s pretty cool. So fuck it, plough on and see what happens. I did want to have a first draft finished before Worldcon, but I think that’s being a bit optimistic. We’ll see.

On the short fiction front, I’ve been working on a few bits and pieces this year. I’ve got a couple of things on the boil that might become interesting, but I won’t say anything yet. No point in jinxing myself by kicking Fate in the balls with a premature announcement of any kind.

I’ve also just submitted a short story to Ticonderoga’s Dead Red Heart anthology. I was utterly seduced by this one – an anthology of distinctly Australian vampire yarns. How can you resist? It was one of those submission calls where I instantly had an idea and couldn’t wait to write the thing. I’ve spent several weeks on it (with some critical help from good writing friends) and have just submitted it, so wish me luck. The submission window is open internationally until December, so have a go if you’re so inclined. Although, I’d rather you didn’t. I don’t want the competition.

Now I plan to concentrate on the novel and nothing else until the first draft is done. But there are the Speakeasy and After The Rain anthologies, both of which are very tempting…